Callum McGregor is Scotland's captain without the armband as Celtic skipper takes on key leadership role

Tom Boyd knows Callum McGregor won’t have an armband strapped to his bicep on Friday night.

But that won’t stop him being captain material in Cyprus and leading with the kind of authority he showed on Sunday when he took Celtic to Ibrox and emerged with all three points.

Boyd, a former Celtic captain, insists McGregor’s quiet and polite demeanour off the pitch masks a core of steel when he steps over the white line and his dominant display in Govan, taking a depleted side into the most hostile of environments without the backing of their own fans, proved his point. He said: “I wasn’t at all surprised at the way Callum played. He’s our captain and he’s driven us on quite a few times in games. What did surprise me was the space he was given to do that. If someone was supposed to man-mark him they didn’t do the job very well, though I don’t know if that was their tactic.

"But good players shine in major games and he certainly did that on Sunday. He was pivotal as to why Celtic were controlling the game.

“I think people know he’s the catalyst and he produced that and had some wonderful passing at the weekend. The engine-room’s a difficult place to be at times and he had a composure in there. I knew him when he was a kid and the one thing he’s always had was that ability on the ball, and he shows that.

“He doesn’t panic when he has the ball, he can take players on, he’s got the full range of attributes and showed them at the weekend. His nature and what he says in the huddle come across, though I don’t know how many languages he speaks in there though, even if there is a certain universal language in there. But he was the natural replacement for Scott Brown even if they’re different types of players.”

Boyd knows the Old Firm